Yes I am sure you seen this question before, but I can't seem to find the answer, maybe there is more than one right answer.Some background info:So I have always liked the idea of sailing, sailed with a friend of mine decades ago on their Hobie 16, they even skiid behind the Hobie.

In the meantime I have always been the Ducati dude, motorcycles. However now with wife and two boys, around 11 years old, not to mention traffic and cops etc, I really want to get off-road. Living in Canada, near Toronto, flying would be great, but too pricey, and falling would be bad, worse than on a bike.

Back to the question. With the Great lakes right here, and so many places one can reach along water, Hobie style off-roading looks really appealing to me.

I am obviously a new sailor, have the wife and boys, will probably be solo sailing often. My one requirement with every vehicle is that I want to be able to go somewhere with it. It would be great if we could load a tent and some other luggage on the boat and camp around islands in Georgian bay, Massassaga provincial park etc. I need some comfort, weight carrying capacity. Kayaking is ok, but sailing would be better I think. I will do a learn2sail course.

So I am shopping for a used Hobie. Not a monohull for sure. With a budget of below $2000 for a Hobie16, or maybe below $4k is a bit more money, but then I can get a much newer Wave, or Getaway. I have seen that H18 could also be a candidate.

Give me some ideas on which to aviod, for sure. Recommendations too, are 1980s era H16 worht buying, or are they just a bunch of problems?

Yup, Canada sure is a beautiful country, and with so much water....lakes and rivers and coast lines, and a great place to sail.

I suggest you learn to sail first, and as you do so, you'll learn that all sailboats are built with a degree of compromise. The compromise is between speed, comfort, safety and price. There are millions of articles and books on this particular subject. You may be asking for too much boat for too few dollars.

So a simple H16 will carry two adults, ideally not more than about 310 lbs all up mass, and zoom around as fast as you can fly her. Over 320 lbs, and she starts to wallow, and with more and more weight, will end up sailing like a sow.

For 'family stuff', go on line and look at the Hobie Getaway, will carry more, not as fast, still lots of fun, much cheaper etc. For hands on, go down to the James St spit or Humber River SC or visit Fogh Marine, Oxford St off the Gardiner Expressway, and look at one. Most resorts now offer the smaller version, the Hobie Wave, better suited to solo sailing or skipper plus 1 crew.

Sounds like your journey might include looking at a Hobie 18 or 21 (both out of production, but still great catamarans).

When you are ready, I'd be glad to skipper for you and the family on my buddy's Sunsail 384 in the BVI's.....the rate will be very reasonable.

_________________1989 Hobie SX18 Sail # 1947 "In Theory..."'Only two things are infinite, the universe, and human stupidity. But I'm not sure about the former.'

Seems to me your choices are:* a family boat* a performance style boat

Getaway/H18/H21 are the social boats,H14/H16/H17/H20/Tiger/WildCat are the performance boats.Wave is a bit of both.Adventure Islands is a new concept, however, they will NOT do well in rough water, as the cross arms are not designed for a lot of stress.

Why don't you join a Club that has training and Cats, speak with others....go to www.cat-alist.com and explore this with Karen-Ann and the Humber gang.Then buy a used H16, have fun, and grow from there.And of course, sail whatever you can find when down south...in the warmth.

_________________1989 Hobie SX18 Sail # 1947 "In Theory..."'Only two things are infinite, the universe, and human stupidity. But I'm not sure about the former.'

You see that is why I need help. The specs say the Wave and 16 can carry 800 lb, and Getaway 1000.

Saying a Hobie 16 can carry 800 lbs is a bit like saying a Honda Civic can carry 5 full grown adult men. I suppose it might be physically possibe, but it isn't something you'd ever want to try.

The only catamaran that Hobie ever made which would be capable of carrying 800+ lbs and still having any reasonable level of performance would be the Hobie 21. All of the smaller boats will be absolute pigs with anywhere near that amount of weight.

If you search for "model year history" you'll find some stuff describing the changes over the years. I don't think there were any bad years; the boats just got better over time. Newer is better both from an aging perspective and because the boat will have newer features.

I have no idea what Hobie Cat is thinking when they say 800 pounds capacity. 450~500 pounds on my old boat is all I'd want, and that takes some management in waves. For performance sailing, 350 or less. New boats are lighter but not 300 pounds lighter!

$2000~3000 gets you a pretty nice boat. Probably '90s some time. '95 saw a lot of changes so try for that.

If you don't know exactly what you want to do yet, a decent cheap 16 is an OK way to go for singlehand, two adults or an adult and two kids. If you want to do the family thing, a Getaway sounds like a great option because there's so much more space and stability.

Well, after several months and finally convincing the wife that we need a boat, I bought a Hobie 14. 1981 model in good shape, with trailer everything, and mini bob, complete and ready to sail. Regular 14, no jib.

I am new to sailing and thought, hey for $1000 I can't go wrong. Sail it for a year, build up our skill level, and see how much use we get out of it. At that price I think the depreciation has pretty much flattened out. I am sure I can sell it get my money back and get a bigger boat a year or two from now. Maybe we keep it for the boys to take out solo, get another boat for me and the wife then we can race each other.

We have had a test in light wind 4knots with all four of us on, two adults plus two boys 11 and 12 years. It was heavy, the boat did not sink, and we did manage to sail quite ok, no problem.I can see the getaway with wings would be a good next boat, or maybe an 18 with wings. Although I like the Getaway, for some reason I think the 18 with wings would be better.

With just one adult and the two boys on board, and a bit more wind 8knots, we managed to get some real speed going. We towed two people in a kayak behind us, and that slowed us down quite a bit, but it was fun and we still moved way faster than what they can paddle the kayak. And it was a pos inflatable kayak.

I think I will now move over to the Hobie 14 forum and lurk around there, thanks for the input. I am glad to be part of the Hobie owners club.

I agree with John about getting your feet wet by learning and you seem to be on your way. One thing about the H18 is she is a heavy boat at 400 lbs, which means you need two adults to move and rig her, especially that tall mast. I own a H18, after having a H16 and have not looked back, but I wanted you to be aware that the H18 is a great stable platform for families, but it requires some muscle out of the water.